New article in Grantland by Charles Pierce:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/peytons-place-why-the-broncos-quarterback-should-retire/
Very thoughtful on the current state of Peyton Manning’s career and the physical toll it has taken on him. The NFL season has just begun, and conversation already seems to be more about casualties than the games. It makes me wonder if football may decline, like boxing, to the level of a boutique sport faster than we think.
I also just read North Dallas Forty, the novel by Peter Gent that was the basis of the 1970s movie with Nick Nolte. The book has aged extremely well and, if nothing else, shows that the destructiveness of football is hardly news to anyone who has been involved with the game. It was the main topic of discussion in his 2004 NPR interview on the book’s 30th anniversary:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1627375
Of course, it is possible that the NFL may retain its amazingly high popularity despite all of this. I don’t follow football to the extent that I once did, but I still have it on frequently enough. I may be part of the problem.
